Switching from Filament to LED Without Losing Light

When switching between types of bulbs, the performance of the bulb may be listed in watts or lumens. But how do you convert between the two? And what does it mean for your lighting set up?

Lumens vs Watts

Although the wattage of your bulb is still an important factor, lumens will give you a more accurate picture of how your lightbulb will actually perform. Watts simply tells you how much energy your bulb will use, whereas lumens tells you how bright the light will be.

In most cases, you should look to match brightness in Lumens rather than Watts, as some lightbulbs have a significantly different Watt use to achieve the same Lumen output. For example, a standard filament bulb will use 25W to achieve around 220 lumens. A similar LED bulb using 18W will put out a whopping 1300 Lumens, which will dramatically alter the light output of the same fitting.

Conversion table

This simple table is a great way to easily convert between Watts and Lumens, and chose the bulb that is best for your needs.